Matt Boldy stays hot, but Wild fall to Flyers in shootout

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - MARCH 23: Carter Hart #79 of the Philadelphia Flyers makes the final save of the shootout against Matt Boldy #12 of the Minnesota Wild to secure a 5-4 win at the Wells Fargo Center on March 23, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
By Michael Russo
Mar 24, 2023

PHILADELPHIA — Well, thank goodness for the uber-confident Matt Boldy because the Wild didn’t deserve a point Thursday night, were lucky to get a point and only got one because of the young star growing before our very eyes.

The disappointing part of the 5-4 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers is that all we’d be talking about is another scintillating, two-goal performance from Boldy and another brilliant, late game-winner from the kid had the Wild not simply forked over the tying and overtime-forcing goal 44 seconds later.

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But make no mistake — the way the Flyers were able to walk into the Wild’s end and blow a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury was the pattern for pretty much a full 60 minutes of regulation time inside Wells Fargo Center.

“We saw a couple of spurts, but that was it,” coach Dean Evason said. “Especially the start. Our start, we kept turning the puck over, throwing it in the middle, very soft plays coming out of our zone, not getting it through, and (the Flyers) worked their butts off. They turned pucks over on us, and consequently, we didn’t have the puck very much, and they obviously were able to get the extra one.”

The Wild are 13-1-4 in their past 18 games, 4-1-2 without Kirill Kaprizov and 7-0-3 in their past 10 on the road. They were trying to take the top spot in the Central Division for the first time since December 2021 with a point or win coupled with a Dallas Stars regulation loss.

The Flyers had nothing to play for.

The Wild knew full well, though, that this time of year presents a dangerous opponent.

“I’ve been on a team like that, and you can beat some teams late,” said Marcus Foligno, the former Buffalo Sabre.

The Wild knew the Flyers were on a three-point streak and playing hard with 18 goals in their previous four games. If the Wild were going to contain a bunch of players trying to impress Flyers coach John Tortorella and new general manager Danny Briere, they would have to play their normal tight-checking, structured style.

Instead, the Wild were loose, sloppy, careless with the puck and coughing it up left and right. There was no urgency — the best example being their 0-for-3 power play in which they registered one measly shot. That included none in the final 1:34 of regulation, when Boldy drew a hooking penalty from Owen Tippett, and the first 26 seconds of overtime, when Mats Zuccarello, who played his latest of many subpar games in the second half, threw a grenade to Joel Eriksson Ek to ruin the abbreviated four-on-three.

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“I don’t know if it’s because of them or because of us,” said Marcus Johansson, one of two new cast members on the No. 1 unit including Jared Spurgeon, who replaced the injured John Klingberg. “We’ve got to work on it and get better for the next one.”

The Wild found ways to survive without Jonas Brodin for an extended period, Jake Middleton for a couple of games and Spurgeon two nights earlier in New Jersey, but Klingberg misses one game with an upper-body injury and the Wild suddenly forget how to defend.

Obviously, that’s largely hyperbole, but the Wild were unsightly for large chunks of Thursday’s game.

If you thought the first period — when the Wild couldn’t catch a puck and continually coughed them up — was as bad as it gets (Middleton and Spurgeon were on for their first five-on-five goal in 18 games before birthday boy Oskar Sundqvist extended his point streak to five games with a tying goal), you’d be shocked to learn they were worse at the start of the second. Players couldn’t stay on their feet, couldn’t handle passes, lost coverage constantly and continued to hand pucks out like Girl Scout Cookies.

Fleury, who had won seven in a row, did his best to keep the Wild in the game with aggressive saves and barrel rolls, but eventually Zuccarello, in a game in which he was turnover-happy, allowed Joel Farabee to stand alone in front of Fleury for a redirection and 2-1 Flyers lead.

“Zuccy’s playing hard,” Evason said. “It’s one of those things — it’s probably tough. Obviously, right? We know … how much the chemistry with (Kaprizov) is exceptional. But having said that, he might be pressing. He’s working. It’s just not coming easily, but he’ll work himself through it.”

The Wild rallied on back-to-back goals 2:35 apart by Boldy and Foligno.

Boldy, coming off a buzzer-beating overtime winner one game after his second career hat trick, took Johansson’s pass and delivered a bullet past Carter Hart for the tying goal.

Soon after, Foligno, playing his second game since missing time after taking a skate blade close to his groin, gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead with the Wild close to escaping the period.

That was until Eriksson Ek took an offensive-zone interference minor and Rasmus Ristolainen made the Wild pay with a power-play goal that sailed through the area left open when Matt Dumba left the shooting lane, presumably so Fleury could see the puck.

“It’s tough to swallow,” Johansson said.

But late in the third, Boldy found a rebound in front of the crease and shot a no-look backhand between his legs for his 25th goal and a short-lived 4-3 lead. Boldy, since Kaprizov was lost from the lineup, has a season-best seven-game point streak with eight goals, 12 points and 29 shots. Johansson has eight points in that span and Eriksson Ek seven.

Boldy’s 25 goals are five short of tying Marian Gaborik (30 in 2001-02 and 2002-03) for the most in a season by a Wild player age 21 or younger. Boldy, who is 21 and 352 days, has 40 career goals. The only player in Wild history to reach the 40-goal mark at a younger age is Gaborik (20 years 22 days).

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“He’s pretty hot right now. It’s fun to watch,” Johansson said. “He’s an unbelievable player, and I feel like he’s playing well all over the ice. Not just scoring goals. He’s so much fun to watch and already, I feel, a pretty complete player, and he’s just going to get better.”

Boldy’s so confident right now. Earlier in the period, he faked a drop pass to Zuccarello, wheeled around a defender and set up Eriksson Ek at the goalmouth. The center just couldn’t convert.

“I want the puck, the puck is coming to me, and it’s going in,” Boldy said.

Unfortunately, the Wild gave up the overtime-forcing goal a shift later on what Foligno called another “lackadaisical” effort by his line against Tyson Foerster before a meh overtime followed by an 0-for-3 shootout.

“It stinks,” Boldy said.

The Wild undoubtedly got what they deserved.

“We weren’t very good,” Evason said. “They were good. We knew they were playing well. They played well, and we were loose. We were not firm. Turnovers. It didn’t look like our hockey club. It’s a good thing we’ve got a practice day (Friday). We can adjust some of those issues (heading into Saturday’s game against Chicago).”

Western Michigan star up for grabs

With Western Michigan’s season over after losing 5-1 to Boston University in the first round of the NCAA regionals, the Wild are one of a handful of teams still in the running for free-agent forward Jason Polin.

Polin, 23, had five hat tricks during his senior season as captain and leads the nation with an NCHC single-season-record 30 goals. He finished with 47 points and was the first Broncos player to ever win NCHC player of the year and forward of the year. He was also named a Hobey Baker finalist.

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Wild GM Bill Guerin and amateur scout Brian Hunter recently scouted the NCHC quarterfinals together in Kalamazoo, Mich. If the Wild land Polin, he would sign a one-year contract and become a restricted free agent this summer if the contract starts immediately.

If the deal starts immediately, he still would not be playoff-eligible.

(Photo of Carter Hart and Matt Boldy: Len Redkoles / NHLI via Getty Images)

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Michael Russo

Michael Russo is a senior writer covering the Minnesota Wild and the National Hockey League for The Athletic. He has covered the NHL since 1995 (Florida Panthers) and the Wild since 2005, previously for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Michael is a four-time Minnesota Sportswriter of the Year and in 2017 was named the inaugural Red Fisher Award winner as best beat writer in the NHL. Michael can be seen on Bally Sports North and the NHL Network; and heard on KFAN (100.3 FM) and podcasts "Worst Seats in the House" (talknorth.com), "The Athletic Hockey Show" on Wednesdays and "Straight From the Source" (The Athletic). Follow Michael on Twitter @RussoHockey